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Essential Question

Assess the validity of the abovestatement.

Explain how the decade of the 1950slaid the groundwork for the social andpolitical turbulence of the 1960s.

The postwar era witnessed tremendous economic growth and rising socialcontentment and conformity. Yet in the midst of such increasing affluence andcomfortable domesticity, social critics expressed a growing sense of unease withAmerican culture in the 1950s.

THE 1950s:

“Anxiety, Alienation, and

Social Unrest”?

“Conservatism, Complacency, andContentment”

Or . . .

Essential Terms/Concepts

•The New “American Dream”

•Baby Boom

•Suburban Living

•Consumerism

•The Changing Workplace

•Car Culture

•Role of Television

•Teen Culture

•Religious Revival

•Scientific Advances

•Well-defined Gender Roles

•Cold War Tension

BabyBoom

It seems to me that every other young housewife Isee is pregnant.

--

British visitor to America, 1958

1957

ㄠ扡批1扯牮b敶敲礠㜠獥7潮摳

BabyBoom

Dr. Benjamin Spock

and the AndersonQuintuplets

Early Reading and School

SuburbanLiving

$7,990 or $60/month with nodown payment.

Levittown:“The American Dream”

1949

ㄵ〠桯畳敳e灥爠睥敫w

Suburban Living

The New “American Dream”

1 story high

12’x19’ living room

2 bedrooms

1 bathroom

Single garage

Small backyard

Front lawn

By 1960

ㄯ㌠潦⁴o攠售U匮 灯灵污瑩p渠楮⁴i攠獵扵牢献

SuburbanLiving

SHIFTS IN POPULATION

DISTRIBUTION,

1940-1970

1940

1950

1960

1970

Central Cities

31.6%

32.3%

32.6% 32.0%

Suburbs

19.5%

23.8%

30.7% 41.6%

Rural Areas/

48.9%

43.9%

36.7% 26.4%

Small Towns

U. S. Bureau of the Census.

SuburbanLiving:

The Typical TV Suburban Families

The DonnaReed Show

1958-1966

Leave It

to Beaver

1957-1963

Father

Knows Best

1954-1958

The Ozzie & Harriet Show

1952-1966

Leave it to Beaver

Idealized living afteryears of sacrifice

Consumerism

1950

䥮瑲潤畣I楯渠潦o瑨攠晩牳t 䍲敤楴C䍡牤

All babies were potential consumers who spearheaded abrand-new market for food, clothing, and shelter.

--

Life

Magazine (May, 1958)

Consumerism

AChanging Workplace

Automation:

1947-1957

晡捴潲礠睯牫景牣攠摥捲d慳a搠批

4.3%, eliminating 1.5 million

blue-collar jobs.

By 1956

浯牥m睨楴e-捯c污爠瑨慮t扬略-捯c污爠

††††††††††橯扳 楮i瑨t 售⁓

†††䍯浰畴敲C

䵡牫 I

⠱㤴㐩⸠䙩牳琠(䉍

†††††††††† †浡m湦牡浥n捯c灵瑥爠⠱㤵ㄩ(

Corporate Consolidation:

By 1960

㘰〠捯牰潲慴楯湳 ⠱⼲┠潦o慬a 售匮捯浰慮楥S⤠

慣捯畮瑥搠景爠ㄯ㈠潦o慬a 捯牰潲慴攠楮捯浥i

†WHY?

Cold War military buildup.

AChanging Workplace

New Corporate Culture:

“The Company Man”

Car Culture

Car registrations: 1945

㈵ⰰ〰ⰰ〰

†††††††††††ㄹ㘰1

㘰ⰰ〰ⰰ〰

2-晡浩汹f捡牳⁤潵扬o猠晲潭‱㤵f-ㄹ㔸

ㄹ㔶1

䥮瑥牳瑡瑥t䡩杨H慹a䅣琠

largest

public works project in American

history

Cost: $32 billion.

41,000 miles

Route 66

•Sample Lesson Plan (see handout)

•Links Chicago to LA

•America shifts focus to West

Car Culture

First McDonald’s(1955)

America became a homogeneous nation

Drive-InMovies

Howard Johnson’s

Car Culture

The U. S. population was on the move in the 1950s.

Lure of California

1955

䑩獮敹污湤⁯灥s敤e楮i卯畴桥牮⁃h汩景牮楡⸠⠴〥(潦o瑨攠guests came from outside California, most by car.)

Frontier Land

Main Street

Tomorrow Land

Television

1946†㜬〰〠呖⁳整T 楮⁴i攠售U匮

ㄹ㔰1†㔰ⰰ〰ⰰ〰5呖⁳整T 楮⁴i攠售U匮

Mass Audience

呖⁣敬 扲b瑥搠瑲慤楴楯湡n

American values.

Television is a vast wasteland.



乥N瑯渠䵩nn潷o䍨慩牭慮r潦o瑨t 䙥摥牡F 䍯浭畮C捡瑩潮猠䍯浭楳C楯iⰠㄹ㘱

Television–

The Western

Davy Crockett

King of the Wild Frontier

The Lone Ranger

(and his faithful

sidekick, Tonto):

Sheriff MattDillon,Gunsmoke

Television-

Family Shows

I Love Lucy

Clip from "ILove Lucy"

The Honeymooners

Glossy view of mostly

middle-class suburban life.

TeenCulture

In the 1950s

瑨t⁷潲搠“teenager”enteredtheAmericanlanguage.

By 1956

ㄳ1浩氮m瑥敮猠睩e栠␷h扩b⸠瑯s灥湤p敡捨e祥慲.

1951: “ROCK ‘N ROLL”

Elvis on "Ed Sullivan"

TeenCulture

“Juvenile Delinquency”

Marlon Brando in

The Wild One

(1953)

James Dean in

Rebel Without aCause

(1955)

1951

J. D. Salinger’sCatcher in the Rye

Clip:"Rebel"

TeenCulture

The “Beat” Generation:

Jack Kerouac

佮O周T 副慤

Allen Ginsberg

poem, “Howl”

“Beatnik”

“Clean” Teen

TeenCulture

Behavioral Rules of the 1950s:

Obey Authority.

Control Your Emotions.

Don’t Make Waves

Fit in

with the Group.

Don’t Even Think About Sex!

ReligiousRevival

Today in the U. S., the Christian faith is back in thecenter of things.

--

Time

magazine, 1954

Church membership:1940†㘴ⰰ〰ⰰ,0

††††††† †††††ㄹ㘰1

ㄱ㐬〰〬0〰

Television Preachers:

1. Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Life is

Worth Living”

2. Reverend Billy Graham

散畭敮楣慬i浥獳m来g

††睡牮w搠慧慩湳琠d桥⁥癩汳h潦o䍯浭畮楳洮

ReligiousRevival

Hollywood: apex of the biblical epics.

It’s un-American to be un-religious!

--

The Christian Century, 1954

The Robe The Ten Commandments BenHur

1953 1956 1959

Well-DefinedGender Roles

Theideal modern woman

married, cooked and

cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining the localPTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She entertainedguests in her family’s suburban house and worked out on thetrampoline to keep her size 12 figure.

--

Life

magazine, 1956

Marilyn

Monroe

Theideal 1950s man

was the provider, protector,

and the boss of the house.--

Life

magazine, 1955

Being a middle-class, whitesuburban

male is the ideal.

Well-DefinedGender Roles

Changing Sexual Behavior:

Alfred Kinsey

Premarital sex was common.

Extramarital affairs were frequent

among married couples.

Kinsey’s results are an assault on the family

as a basic unit of society, a negation of morallaw, and a celebration of licentiousness.